Every winter, trains leave Dhaka for Tongi so packed that passengers cover the roofs, cling to the doors and sit on the front of the locomotive. They are heading to Bishwa Ijtema, the "world gathering" of the Tablighi Jamaat movement on the banks of the River Turag, where attendance was estimated at around 4 million people in 2023.

Train with passengers crowded on its roof and front heading to Bishwa Ijtema
Passengers ride on the roof and front of a train bound for the Ijtema. Photo: Railpictures.net

What is Bishwa Ijtema?

Bishwa Ijtema is an annual religious gathering organised by the Bangladeshi branch of Tablighi Jamaat, a Deobandi Islamic missionary movement, with support from the Government of Bangladesh. Each phase lasts three days of sermons and prayer and ends with the Akheri Munajat, a final collective supplication in which millions pray for world peace. Since 2018 it has been delivered in Bengali, the first time since 1980; before that it was given in Urdu.

The gathering is held at Tongi, an outer suburb in Gazipur district north of Dhaka. Since 1972 it has used a 160-acre field along the Turag, with the wider site spreading across several square kilometres. Foreign attendance has been estimated at 20,000 to 50,000 people.

History of the gathering

The first annual Tablighi Jamaat conference in the region took place in 1946 at Kakrail Mosque near Ramna Park in Dhaka. Later gatherings moved to Chittagong in 1954 and Siddhirganj, Narayanganj, in 1958. In 1967 the government of what was then East Pakistan allowed the Ijtema to be held every year at Tongi, and it has grown ever since. Estimates put attendance at about 2 million in 2001, 5 million in 2010 and 4 million in 2023.

Because one ground cannot hold everyone, the Ijtema is now held in two phases, with districts taking turns. In 2025, the 58th edition ran from 31 January to 2 February and from 3 to 5 February. The movement has also been divided between factions led by Maulana Zubair Ahmed and Muhammad Saad Kandhalvi; clashes at the grounds in December 2024 left eight people dead.

Long train covered with passengers moving along a tree-lined railway
Photo: Railpictures.net

The trains to Tongi

Bangladesh Railway and the state bus company BRTC lay on extra services for the Ijtema, but with millions travelling to the same field, demand far outstrips seats. That is when the famous scenes happen: every carriage full, hundreds more riding on the roofs, and crowds lining the tracks at Tongi. Riding outside the carriages is extremely dangerous, and the pictures show a once-a-year rush, not everyday rail travel in Bangladesh.

Boats bring pilgrims along the Turag too, and on the final day worshippers spill beyond the field and pray on the surrounding roads.

Crowds on and around a train at Tongi during Bishwa Ijtema – AFP
Huge crowd surrounding a train with a Bangladeshi flag – Knowledge is Power
Men climbing onto the roof of a train carriage – photograph by Rizwan Hasan
Train almost hidden by passengers and crowds on the tracks – Demotix
Worshippers kneeling in prayer on the tracks beside a crowded train – Demotix
Locomotive covered with passengers after the final prayer – Demotix
Riverboats packed with passengers on the Turag – Demotix
Boat and crowds along the riverbank at the Ijtema – International Business Times
Rows of men in white standing in prayer – Free Thought Blogs
Worshippers praying on a road among buses and trucks – Demotix

Visiting respectfully

The Ijtema is a religious event first and a spectacle second. Visitors should dress modestly, follow the organisers' instructions, ask before taking close portraits and keep cameras down during prayer. Our guide to visiting sacred places thoughtfully covers more, and our piece on learning through travel explores what journeys like this can teach.

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